


Into the Light

by The_Marron



Series: Dance With the Devil [2]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Angst, Half-Breed!Hux, M/M, constantine au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-28
Updated: 2016-06-28
Packaged: 2018-07-18 21:48:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7331788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Marron/pseuds/The_Marron
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Continuation of 'Circle of Hell', the Constantine AU only few had heard about ;-)</p><p> </p><p>  <em>As he now lay in his bed, his hand tracing patterns on Hux's turned back, he had plenty of time to think, to analyze. But no answers ever came and asking the half-breed for honesty was rather naive by definition. He would only hear what he wanted to hear anyway.</em></p><p> </p><p>Hux once promised to take Kylo's soul personally. Now comes the time to see, to what degree one can trust a half-breed's word.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Into the Light

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Circle of Hell](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6579043) by [The_Marron](https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Marron/pseuds/The_Marron). 



> Big thanks to missaffliction and TheCookieofDoom who motivated me to come back to this universe and stop hating it with passion.
> 
> This is the sequel I promised, I hope I won't disappoint :)
> 
> Big thanks to my lovely beta, Gabi, who will probably strangle me with commas in the near future.

Hux didn't have to sleep, Kylo was well aware of that. Throughout all the years he spent knowing the half-breed, that one thing remained unchanged. So those silent little moments when he stayed in bed, Kylo interpreted as a gift. Hux usually turned on his side, not even pretending to sleep. He didn't stay the night often, but when he did, he remained with Kylo until the dawn, whether out of his own will or for Kylo's sake, Kylo didn't even try to guess. He stopped guessing long time ago.

As he now lay in his bed, his hand tracing patterns on Hux's turned back, he had plenty of time to think, to analyze. But no answers ever came and asking the half-breed for honesty was rather naive by definition. He would only hear what he wanted to hear anyway. So he didn't ask anything, he just treasured those rare moments when Hux was as he was before, only a half-breed sharing Kylo's apartment and bed. His hand travelled to Hux's side. He remembered the wound there, the wound he himself tried to clean and heal. He moved his hand back on Hux's spine. Half-breed bodies knew no scars, recreating the illusion of flesh to perfection. It felt as if all these years had not happened to Hux at all. As if he was unmoved, unchanged since the beginning. Like an actor, who changes bloodied costume and reveals that all of that was just an act...

"What is bothering you?" Hux's voice was quiet and not entirely present, as if he too, was engrossed in his own thoughts. He probably was a King of Hell had many duties, Kylo presumed. And he knew better than giving Hux somehow even more powerful hold over him. He had already lost, long time ago, but he didn't have to make it so obvious, to admit.

"There are rumors about a horror travelling through the city." He answered instead, taking his hand off Hux's nape where it came to rest. The half-breed sat up, his legs landing on the floor. As if he was getting ready to go.

"Do you want my help, then? That's what this is all about?" There were hurt undertones in the question and Kylo immediately sat up as well and leaned to circle his arms around Hux, pulling him back, into Kylo's chest. "You know it is not. " He answered, planting a light kiss on Hux's shoulder blade.

"You asked." Hux sighed and tension left his frame, muscles relaxing as he finally leaned into Kylo, his head resting on Kylo's shoulder.

"That I did... It gets to me, you know." That was something new. Hux sounded tired, all of a sudden. Kylo tightened his grip and nuzzled into Hux's neck, the slight smell of sulfur filling his nostrils. Even though, in theory every half-breed smell carried the undertone of sulfur, Hux was special. How, Kylo could not determine, but he was. Always had been.

"I knew that the Hell was a mess, since it was ruled by a witch-doctor who was not really around for most of the time, but..."

"Is it too much?" He inquired, his voice muffled by Hux's skin.

"No. Of course, not. I can handle that. I am handling that. Most of the inhabitants welcomed the change of the ruler with relief. At least I am mostly there, trying to get everything into order." Hux turned his head towards Kylo and his eyes flashed in that silvery-gold way of theirs. There was a small smile gracing the half-breed lips. "Paradoxically, demons and the tormented are not exactly problematic." He said and pressed his lips to Kylo's cheek.

"Then what is that keeps you away for so long?" Kylo tried his best not to sound like he was complaining, but he probably failed. Then again, it was Hux who made him like this, he was the one who took everything Kylo was and could and molded it to suit him. He could deal with complaints.

"Balance." Before Kylo could ask what he had meant by that, the half-breed smiled sadly at him and with a last kiss he disappeared in a smoke. With a resigned sigh, Kylo stood up and started to gather the clothing that littered the floor. For a moment, he contemplated burning Hux's attire, just to see if it would anger him when he finds out. Hux had a very personal relationship with fire. But, as the infatuated fool he was, Kylo simply folded them and put them in his wardrobe, next to other things Hux had ever left behind.

He never demanded them back and Kylo couldn't stop himself from hoping, wishing that it meant something more than a simple lack of care.

*

"How could you!" Shouted the Twi'Lek girl, cradling the body of a half-breed to her chest, as if that would somehow bring him back to life. If half-breeds were ever really alive to begin with. But, judging from the tears streaming down her face, for her he had been very decidedly alive and Kylo was his killer.

"I eliminated a threat." He answered, sheathing his sword.

"A threat!" She spat, the make-up running down her face giving her a look of a feral beast. "A threat to what?"

"Balance." He turned on his heel. He had nothing to do here and he stopped explaining his reasons a long time ago. He was a wanted criminal at this point, it would be unwise to stay here and reason with the girl.

"What balance?" She shouted. " He was good, so good..." That made Kylo snap.

"Oh? Loving and kind, when you had no one else, I guess? You are the closest relation to the Ryloth potentate, but it is of course not a factor, because he _loves_ you dearly and would never think about using you for his own means!" He didn't notice when he started shouting, but once he did, there was no stopping him. "He was a half-breed, girl!"

The girl started to shout something in reply, but before Kylo could make sense of her words, her voice was suddenly silenced. A delicate smell of sulfur filled his senses. He was quite prepared for what he would see.

At some point during his tirade, she had to leave her lover's body, for she was standing now. The girl's face was stricken in shock, as if she still had not processed what happened. She had a blaster in her outstretched hand, but was unable to fire it. Probably because of a clawed hand protruding from her chest.

The girl gave him last, lost look and she was gone, her body going limp.

The hand drew back and the girl's body fell, revealing a figure in a white uniform, now splattered with blood. It was not the first time Hux had aided him on his way, but it was the first time he was not smiling smugly, like he did when he was still Kylo's teacher in the ways of the Watchers. His expression was grim now, frown, no smile marring his face.

They stared at each other in silence, not daring to move.

Finally, Hux raised his hand and started to look at it, as if he did not see the blood on it before.

"That was pretty personal, it would seem." He said and had the audacity to sound hurt.

"You have no idea." Kylo growled and stalked to the half-breed who was looking at him the same way he did five years ago, in the Throne Room of the _First Order._ As if he was ready to die by Kylo's hand.

Hux hadn't moved from the spot when Kylo pulled him by his head into a ferocious, angry kiss that felt rather like a bite and somehow conveyed everything he felt. Anger. Fear. Desire. Everything. And Hux did not fight back, he simply clenched his fist on Kylo's robe and kissed back, trying to change the kiss into something softer, but to no avail. There was a flicker of light and suddenly they were covered in smoke. Hux disappeared from Kylo's grip, but he did not go too far. He was next to him, keeping a safe distance, but he was there. When Kylo looked around, they were no longer in the potentate's apartment. They were back in that damned Throne Room, the only place where Kylo could come if he wanted to see Hux on his terms. He hated it at the moment.

"How am I any different from her?!" He shouted, charging at Hux, but the half-breed disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"You know how." He replied, his voice coming from behind Kylo's back.

"Yes, _I_ 've already given you what you wanted!" He growled, turning to the direction of Hux's voice. "What other use do you have of me?!"

"It saddens me that you don't know."

"Oh, yes, because you are so forthcoming with your feelings and plans!" It was that comment that made Hux lose his temper.

"You wouldn't believe anything I say! You've made that obviously clear!" He shouted back and appeared directly before Kylo, their noses almost touching.

"You are going to destroy me." Kylo finally managed, his voice unexpectedly quiet. Hux was right. Whatever Hux could've said, Kylo would assume it to be a lie. He trusted in Hux's silence more than in his words. "That's what I fear. That you will dispose of me the moment I stop being useful and forget about me." He confessed, all fight gone from his body.

"At the moment you are ruining me more than I am ruining you." Kylo felt hands on his cheek and let himself be guided into a soft, tender kiss, the one that fooled him every single time. He surrendered yet again. "I am developing a conscience because of you. I am _just_. You have no idea how many souls I evicted from hell because they didn't deserve to be there! They are thinking I am going too soft, that I am not fit to rule! Because of you!" Hux hissed. "I am constantly in hell showing every challenger that I am the strongest option they have and that doesn't even bother me, at least not like those fucking souls I started to pity! That's what you've made of me!"

"Hux, I..."

"... You didn't know. I am well aware, I kept that from you, after all. 'He'd worry', I thought, 'If he knew'. Stupid of me. I forgot that you are unwilling to move on. " His eyes shone dangerously and took a few steps back.

"Go now. I wasted enough time coming to your aid." And with that, Hux sat down on his throne and disappeared, leaving Kylo alone and bereft in the Throne Room.

He didn't try to stop his tears. There was no one to see them, anyway.

*

Hux did not appear for another few weeks. He stopped coming in the middle of the night, he no longer appeared on Kylo's raids. At first, it wasn't worrying. Hux was busy, seeing him once a two weeks was plenty. But weeks changed into months, and still there was no trace of Hux anywhere. The new witch-doctor Hux brought to First Order, Maz Kanata started to pity him every time he came by and asked if the boss was around. He never was. Kylo was unable to use the Chair, he was never instructed how it worked. Usually he simply waited in the Room, to pick Hux up.

At the moment he wasn't even granted the permission to enter the room. At some point Phasma started join him on his raids, but she refused to tell him why. She also had nothing to tell him regarding her boss, though from her often deep-in-thought expression he assumed that she knew what was going on, and that worried her. If that worried her, it worried him.

The horror he had heard of for months started to act more often. There were bodies massacred on the streets and in the middle of the buildings and no one knew the reason. The people who were murdered were not exactly influential, sometimes they weren't even people. 'The Winged Horror' as the media called it due to the rumors saying it moved on wings, didn't make any distinction. It was like a rabid beast, content with murdering anything that stood in its way.

He started to run into Luke Skywalker and his apprentice Rey more often than not, the three of them suddenly having the same goal. Working with his uncle was more difficult than Kylo previously thought, even taking into the account their last confrontation. Luke was unwilling to let go, to forgive Kylo that he put his 'obsession with that damned half-breed' over the loyalty to family. Rey was slightly better in this regard. She resented him for hurting Luke's feelings and let Kylo know it, but she was at least competent when it came to actual fight and didn't waste her time teaching Kylo on the run or informing him that 'this was all the half-breeds are, don't you see?'

Maybe that's why when they finally found the 'Winged Horror' he was set on saving her.

Out of the many things Kylo assumed the beast to be, a crazed Geonosian wasn’t one of them, mostly because they were practically extinct. And yet here he was, his body mutated beyond recognition, his wings spread and bloody, his hand wielding some kind of a spear. They found him in the underground, below the Senate. It soon turned out that the spear was much more than just a spear. It was somehow powerful in the Light, as Luke phrased it, and that was a curiosity in itself. How should they fight with Light? Most of their weapons, be it Rey's staff or Kylo's sword, proved to be useless against it.

"What is he doing here anyway?!" Rey shouted, parrying the blow directed at her side. "I would understand if he tried to blow the Senate up, or something, but..." She paused and rolled away from the Geonosian, making a room for Kylo to charge at the beast. He aimed for the creature's stomach, but it turned and blocked his strike with its wings. They should be delicate, insect-like if the books spoke the truth, but these most certainly weren't. It was like hitting dura-steel.

"I have no idea. Maybe it simply doesn't like Coruscant." He answered and jumped out of the way of the spear.

"It is too fast for its size!" Shouted Luke from where he set up his moving laboratory and was now busy drawing some kind of runes on the ground, as if the ground could inform him how to take on the creature.

" _Really_?" Kylo replied, not bothering to hide the sarcasm. Rey jumped to her feet and tried to hit the creature in the neck, but missed as the monstrosity turned to face Kylo, and fell to the ground hit by its wings. The beast produced something like a growling laugh and looking Kylo in the eyes, raised its clawed hand to finish Rey off.

It happened faster than he could process it. One moment he was looking at Rey trying to stand up after the blow and realizing she wouldn't make it, and the next he was on her, his body between hers and the monster's.

He didn't register the pain until he heard Rey's terrified cry. When he looked down he saw a clawed hand that went through his body and stopped inches from Rey's. The creature laughed again and retrieved its hand and only then did Kylo feel the full damage it has done.

He fell on his side, feeling the blood leaving his body with a horrifying speed. His vision thankfully stayed clear, so he could see Rey taking on the monster with a new ferocity, her rage giving her strength. He didn't notice when Luke appeared next to him, but suddenly he heard that the old man was muttering something under his breath, some kind of ritual? There was nothing Kylo knew of that could stop him from dying now. Clawed hand... How fitting. If he had the energy to do it, he would start laughing. Oh, the irony. His vision started to blur, Luke's voice becoming louder and louder, as the lightness engrossed everything...

"Not so fast." It took Kylo a while, but he when he made sense of what he was hearing, he smiled. He recognized the voice, even though he hadn’t heard it for so long. He would recognize it anywhere.

"Don't you dare touch him, you..." That sounded like Luke.

"You can insult me all you want later. Ren, can you hear me?" There was only one person who called him that. He tried to answer, but his voice betrayed him. His vision was growing more and more white, the shapes were getting more and more blurry. He nodded, hoping it would be enough.

"Do you want to go? I promised you something once, but it depends on you whether I keep the promise, or not. Do you want to go?"

Go where? Where could he go... The Light... Hux wouldn't be there if there was so much light, right? Hux was here, not where the light was... And his voice was so panicked, despite his calm tone and careful, soothing words, he was so afraid, Kylo could sense it now... He shook his head slightly.

"Are you sure?" He nodded, feeling strength filling his limbs. And suddenly, light was no more. Everything went dark for a while and then, then... Then he saw Hux. Pale, worried, wonderful Hux, his hands on Kylo's abdomen, dirty with blood.

"You are back." Kylo managed, and Hux gave him a small, smug smile, like the ones they shared long time ago, when it was them against Snoke. He put his hand on Hux's cheek, just to see if it was real. Hux's skin was cold, but it was there. It was there.

"No. You are." Hux replied and put his own hand on Kylo's.

"What have you done, you half-breed?!" Luke roared, forcing Hux up by grabbing him by the collar of his uniform.

"I saved his life. That's what he asked me to do."

"He was meant to go to the Light!"

"He didn't want to!"

"You kept him here!"

"Rey..." Kylo said weakly, trying to stand up. His wound might be gone, blood no longer leaking from it, but the muscles still remembered the pain of being severed.

Luke let go of Hux and with a worried glance at the fighting pair, he went back to his runes.

"So that's what they had in mind..." Hux mused and Kylo wanted to ask for a clarification, but Hux simply came up to him and kissed him.

"Good to have you back." And with that, he directed his footsteps towards Rey and Geonosian, Kylo following closely after him.

"Let the girl go. I am here." The beast laughed and threw Rey directly at Kylo, both of them tumbling to the ground.

"You are alive!" She shouted and threw her hands around his neck. "But, how..." She looked in the direction of her adversary, who was now turning around to face a red-haired half-breed making his way towards him.

"That's your paramour? " She asked and Kylo just nodded. "Did he...?" She gestured at Kylo.

"Yes."

"Then he is good enough, I guess." She stated, getting on her feet and helping Kylo up. The Geonosian and Hux seemed to be discussing something. It turned out the beast _could_ speak.

They made a few steps towards the two, but some kind of barrier kept them in place. Hux wanted them out of it, but why?

"... I always wondered what he meant. And here you are."

"I am your judgment, General Hux." Hux scoffed at that. "No one called me a general for a very long time."

"And no one ever again will." The beast rumbled "You are a human, general. You are no leader for our kind."

"You are a ghoul, are you not?"

"It does not matter. I came here to test a theory, and theory has been tested."

"Oh?" "You did come for your pet human. Everyone wondered. "Hux smiled at that.

"I am a man of my word." As an answer he got a loud round of a very disgusting laughter.

"No, no, general. You _were_." And with that, the beast threw the spear at Hux. And Hux, who could block knives in air, who could teleport at will, Hux did nothing.

"The spear was made of light..." Rey whispered with horror, and Kylo understood. The spear was not there to fight them. It was to fight Hux, everything happened because Hux... Because Hux cared. And now he was faced with one weapon he was defenseless against. The moment the barrier went down Kylo knew it was too late. Hux went limp and fell to his knees while the beast howled with laughter.

Rey and Kylo ran to the two, their weapons ready, fury blinding them, but before they could reach them, a big blue circle surrounded the Geonosian and Hux, runes sparkling on the ground, a big orb of light absorbing the figures inside it. The laughter changed into a shriek of pain and everything disappeared, leaving only burned shapes in the ground, a faint scent of sulfur filling the air. Just like that, Hux was gone.

"Luke, what have you done!?" Rey shouted, as Kylo fell to his knees next to the nearest rune, staring vacantly into the space where Hux was before. The fact that he registered the words was torture in itself. He wanted to stop, he wanted... Hux would return, he was stronger than this, he was a King of Hell, he was... He was...

"I sent them into the Light." Luke confessed and Rey cried out in surprise.

"But...!"

Into the Light... But Hux was a half-breed, he couldn't... He couldn't survive that. Half-breeds lost their chance, Hux said so himself.

It was all Kylo's fault... All his fault. Hux ran to him every time Kylo needed it and was unprepared for what his enemies prepared. He was right.

"Ben..." Luke started and Kylo hadn't even noticed when the man came near.

"Ben," The man repeated, but Kylo refused to budge. "I cannot fanthom how you are feeling right now, but... I am sorry, for what's that worth. I didn't notice that he was still there. "

"He was probably dead by the time you sent them away..." Rey muttered, though who was she aiming to comfort, Kylo had no idea.

He stood up and sheathed his sword.

"Ben..."

"I don't want to see you. Ever again." He replied and went on his way.

There was nothing left of Hux. No body, no scrap of material. No last words. It was too surreal. One second he was there, smiling and so alive and the next... He knew, Kylo saw that, he knew for sure. That's why he refused to see Kylo for so long. He knew that they would target Kylo because of him and still, and still...

"Not all may be lost!" Came Luke's voice, but Kylo did not turn back. "He asked you back then, if you wanted to go!"

Yes, he did. And the only reason Kylo wanted to stay was him. He should have left.

"He asked you, he wanted you to make a choice!" Luke continued, louder and louder as Kylo headed for the exit.

"He loved you, Ben." And that's what killed him. This time, for real.

"And if he can love, he can still be there!"

That was the last thing Kylo heard.

*

Back in his apartment he took off his bloodied robe, throwing it aside, not bothering where it landed. He wanted to stop feeling, to stop existing. But he couldn't. Damn that Luke, for giving him hope, for giving him purpose. The man probably didn't even believe what he was saying, he simply wanted to protect the man he thought as his nephew, from grief.

He sat on his bed. Maybe if he went to sleep, he could wake up next day and pretend it didn't happen. Or maybe, just maybe, he would wake up and see Hux as he was always in the mornings, his hair glistening in the sun and his eyes...

His eyes wandered to the wardrobe he left open for some reason. There it was, the pile of Hux's things, hidden away from the praying eyes, waiting for their owner to return. For a second Kylo had an irrational thought that at least they would never get the notion that he was never coming back. They were just things. They didn't understand longing.

And then, under one of Hux's shirts, he saw it. A big, leather-bound book. The one that Hux always said was too powerful to be kept in Hell and asked Kylo to hide.

All not is lost, said Luke. Something like a grim hope entered Kylo's mind. He will get Hux back.

And if he couldn't... Well, at least he will get his revenge.

**Author's Note:**

> I forgot to tell you that I'm evil and like watching my characters suffer.
> 
> Let me know what you think!


End file.
